At this moment.
Nami was utterly shocked.
She had never expected to encounter Dracule Mihawk, one of the Shichibukai, so soon after entering the Grand Line!
So, was this Shichibukai, Dracule Mihawk, chasing down this pirate fleet!?
As Nami pondered this, Dracule Mihawk moved again.
With a step, he lightly leaped into the air. Then, Yoru fell from his hand as he casually swung it.
Hummm!!!!
Amid a clear ring of steel, another immense slash, identical to the one before, appeared and shot toward the pirate fleet ahead as though it were splitting heaven and earth apart!
Then came a sharp hiss!
A terrifying sound of something being sliced apart rang out.
Nami's eyes went wide.
Even Momoo was sweating buckets.
The sea ahead had actually been split apart by the slash!
The attack did not lose any momentum. It crashed down upon the pirate fleet.
Another astonishing sight unfolded!
The neatly arranged pirate fleet was split cleanly in two along with the sea!
Several pirate ships caught within the slash's path were sliced evenly in half!
"Gasp!!!"
Nami could not help sucking in a cold breath at the sight.
On the pirate fleet's side, everyone stared blankly at the divided sea and ships.
The horrifying slash threw the entire pirate fleet into chaos, leaving men and ships in complete disarray.
However, a pirate fleet capable of opposing Dracule Mihawk seemingly had some skill of its own.
The chaos lasted only a short while. Soon, the remaining dozen or so pirate ships regrouped and surrounded Dracule Mihawk!
At their head stood a tall man clad in golden armor.
Beside him was another man holding a Tonfa Hammer, his expression grim.
"Huh!?"
Seeing the two of them, Nami let out another cry of surprise.
They both seemed strangely familiar to her.
After thinking for a moment, Nami quickly found the reason.
"It's them! The Krieg Pirates!?"
At last, Nami remembered why the two men seemed familiar.
Like her, they both came from East Blue!
They were the Krieg Pirates, whose reputation in East Blue even surpassed that of the Arlong Pirates!
The man in golden armor was the captain and admiral of the Krieg Pirates, Don Krieg!
The grim-faced man was Gin, the Demon Man and commander-in-chief of the Krieg Pirates!
Nami recognized them because she had encountered the two of them once while traveling through East Blue.
In fact, before Arlong, the ruler of East Blue had been Don Krieg!
It was just that, after the Krieg Pirates entered the Grand Line in one go more than a year ago, there had been no news of them.
That allowed Arlong to become East Blue's new ruler, while people gradually forgot about the Krieg Pirates.
Nami had never expected that, while encountering a Shichibukai here, she would also run into the Krieg Pirates, the former rulers of East Blue!
But clearly—
Even the former rulers of East Blue were merely prey before a Shichibukai.
Faced with Don Krieg and Gin's encirclement, Dracule Mihawk used only a few casual strikes to cut down every pirate ship around him.
The Krieg Pirates fell apart. Countless men were killed or wounded, and even Don Krieg, their leader, turned into two pieces of a corpse in his terror and fell into the sea!
A generation's ruler of East Blue had died before he could even say more than a few lines!
Seeing this, Dracule Mihawk said blandly, "Since you came from East Blue, I originally wanted to play with you for a while. But something suddenly came up, so I sped things along and wiped you out."
His indifferent words, paired with the mountain of corpses and sea of blood around him, gave off an incomparably terrifying aura.
Nami's little face went pale with fright. Coming back to her senses, she tremblingly said to Momoo,
"Hey, Mo... Momoo, let's... let's get out of here!"
In fact, Nami did not even need to remind him. Once Momoo recovered from his shock, his enormous body was already carefully backing away, trying to get as far from Hawkeye as possible.
But at that moment, those hawk-like eyes locked onto Momoo.
"Wait."
The instant Hawkeye spoke, Momoo shuddered all over and immediately began frantically retreating!
But then, another massive streak of azure light tore through the air, forcibly cutting open the stretch of sea Momoo had been about to retreat into!
Feeling that terrifyingly sharp aura so close by, Momoo's huge body collapsed where it stood, tears streaming down its face.
Before such a terrifying being, it was powerless to struggle.
Nami was the same, her face full of despair.
When she saw Dracule Mihawk annihilate the Krieg Pirates, she had already sensed that something was wrong, so she hurriedly told Momoo to flee with her.
After all, she had never interacted with Dracule Mihawk and did not know what a powerhouse like him was like.
What if he wiped out the Krieg Pirates, then casually wiped them out too!?
And now, what Nami feared most seemed to have happened!
Dracule Mihawk had forced them to stay through sheer force!
"Th-this... this lord, what are your orders?"
Nami asked, her face also streaked with tears.
Dracule Mihawk narrowed his eyes.
He did not answer Nami. Instead, he took a document from his coat and began reading it on the spot.
"Hmm!?"
Nami was immediately stunned.
If she had gotten closer, she would have discovered that the photograph at the top of the document was Natsuya's bounty poster!
Besides that, it contained intelligence related to Natsuya.
There were notes on his Rokushiki, Devil Fruit abilities, and more. There was also information about those around him!
Thus, Hawkeye quickly found Nami in the document—and even Momoo was included.
"You're Natsuya's companion!? Where is Natsuya?"
After glancing through the document, Hawkeye suddenly spoke words that drastically changed Nami's expression.
At that moment, Nami was horrified.
How did Hawkeye know about Natsuya!?
Wait!
The Shichibukai seemed to be pirates granted Legal Plunder Rights by the Marine Government.
In other words, the Shichibukai and the Marine Government were in a cooperative relationship!
So Hawkeye was helping the Marine Government deal with Natsuya!?
Realizing this, Nami froze.
Natsuya had not even awakened yet.
With only her and Momoo's strength, they were clearly no match for Dracule Mihawk!
What should they do!?
Could it be that today was not only the end of the Krieg Pirates, but also the end of her and Natsuya?
Next, Dracule Mihawk approached Nami.
Nami's face changed in alarm. She instinctively stepped back, only to suddenly bump into a warm embrace.
She blankly looked up, and a handsome face entered her sight.
Before you continue